


A Token of His Affections

by HDLynn



Series: The Blacksmith [3]
Category: The Great Wall (2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Grumpy Man and his Sunshine Lover, Living History Museum!AU, Valentine's Day Fluff, not beta read we die like mne, soft!pero, toothrotting fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HDLynn/pseuds/HDLynn
Summary: Pero Tovar has some trouble figuring out what to do for Valentine's Day for you.
Relationships: Pero Tovar/Reader, Pero Tovar/You
Series: The Blacksmith [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2158605
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	A Token of His Affections

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Maggie_GoldenStar1530](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maggie_GoldenStar1530/gifts).



> Based on some prompts sent to my tumblr account from @magsgotswags and @computeringturtle <3

Pero Tovar had never been a man of many words. Sure he could talk with people, he actually did a rather large amount of talking for his job, though if he could teach up the apprentices to give the tour spiel he was more than happy to do so.

Really the whole teaching and talking thing was just part and parcel of the payment he felt he gave to be able to do something he loved. The heat from the forge, being able to take cold, hard lumps of metal, and being able to turn them into something useful or even beautiful? That was what he enjoyed doing most.

That and the fact it was because of work that he had met you.

Some of the other coworkers — the ones who had been around long enough to know they could get away with teasing the glowering blacksmith — had teased him. How someone so seemingly stuck in their ways and a stick in the mud could have caught the attention of someone so… the opposite of himself. 

Pero often found himself agreeing with them, you were just so damn kind, and thoughtful, and pretty, and smart to boot? He understood why he had taken a shine to you, you were happy while also somehow not being abrasively bubbly, optimistic when he wasn’t, seeing the good in others that oftentimes was hidden.

The fact that he had finally gotten the gumption to ask you out? Yeah, that had surprised even him, but it had been worth it to see your surprised face turn into such a sweet smile and it was directed at him? Well, he would never admit it but he had damn well nearly melted on the cobbled street right then and there.

So when February had started to creep up on everyone he had started sweating bullets despite the chill in the air. He hadn’t ever been great with… words or grand gestures. Valentine’s Day hadn’t been important to him ever. He got his mom her favorite flowers delivered when he wasn’t in town, which was pretty much every year since he had gotten done with schooling. One didn’t usually travel back home for such a minor holiday, but he didn’t want his mom feeling forgotten.

But this year? This was the first Valentine’s Day that he would be spending with you and he wanted to not mess this up.

He wanted to do something special, and he knew he wanted to make you something. He needed to spend his own time and sweat to craft a token with his own two hands. One question just remained even as the days had quickly started passing by. What in blue blazes was he going to make?

He had spent the past several nights with his little sketchbook and pencil in hand and a pile of crumpled up rejected pieces of paper overflowing from the waste bin by his sofa. Nothing he drew out was feeling right. One idea would be too simple, the next too grand. Heavens knew he wasn’t going to make you a ring, he wasn’t that daft to give you a ring if he wasn’t proposing… not yet anyways.

Every time he started to get too frustrated though, Momma cat always seemed to weasel her way onto his lap and started purring too loud for him to ignore. Ever since he had gotten all her kittens adopted out it had only seemed right that he bring the cat home, it was safer in his little apartment than at the forge after all.

It wasn’t until two weeks out the idea had finally come to him. Pero just hoped his knowledge of silversmithing was still up to par as he frantically sketched out the form that had popped into his mind.

~*~

It had snowed in the night, just enough to lay on the tree branches and over the grass in a thin layer of fluffy flakes. 

You had been worried that Pero maybe wouldn’t be able to drive over due to the roads, but when you had texted him he had assured you that the roads were just fine for his truck to handle.

True to his word he had arrived at your apartment on time and looking very handsome indeed. Pero was wearing the one nice jacket he had worn for pretty much every single holiday event he ever went to, along with a crisp white button-up shirt, and a pair of dark wash jeans that were clearly not his work ones since they didn’t have any little burn marks in them from when he sometimes did work at the forge on his own time. 

You both had forgone the need to eat out for the holiday, it was just too busy and crowded and when your jobs both had you dealing with so many other people all the time? It was really nice to have a night in.

He had also brought along dessert from the cute bakery in town as well as some of your favorite flowers. As you had been putting those in the water he had insisted that you let him help cook. Who were you to argue with the man when he took off the jacket he was wearing and started to roll up his sleeves and reveal those… amazing forearms he had. 

You were rather sure Pero knew exactly what his nicely sculpted arms did to you, for he had taken to always rolling his sleeves up around you when possible. The showcasing of his defined muscles and tendons from his hours at the forge and the teasing hint of the tattoo that just started to peak out when he did that? It was evil in the most delicious way.

Before you really got started with the dinner preparations though Pero had you pause.

“I… I have something else for you that I made,” he said, practically shoving a sleek wooden box into your hands.

“Pero, you didn’t have to,” you said even as you took it.

He just shook his head, “Had the idea pop into my head and had to make it. Open it.”

Grinning at him, you looked down to open the flat rectangular box. It was made of smooth wood and was minimal in its design, showcasing the pretty whirls in the grain of the wood. Inside the box, nestled on a bed of satin, there was a silver necklace. It had a thin chain and on that hung a pendant that had the initials of your name intertwined in a pretty and delicate design. It was rather like the royal seals of old, or what someone might have used for a signet ring to put their mark in wax.

“Pero! Oh my god, it’s gorgeous!” You effused as you carefully pulled the necklace from its box.

Upon closer examination, you found that, while the silver was rather heavy, the design was so delicate it almost looked like it had been made of lacework rather than metal. The silver shone even in the artificial lighting of your apartment, so glossy it had a nearly perfect mirror finish from being carefully polished.

“You really like it?” He asked, almost sounding bashful.

You looked at him now and found he looked still rather nervous.

“Pero, it is gorgeous,” you assured him, “When did you have time to do this? And it is so delicate! It feels almost like it will melt away, like a snowflake.”

This bit of poetic exaggeration made his lips twitch before he gave you one of those rare and perfectly genuine smiles that you loved bringing out of the grump.

“It was easy enough to make once I figured it out. I’m… glad you like it,” he said, a hand rubbing the back of his neck absentmindedly as you saw the faintest bit of a blush crossing his still scowling face.

Grinning you gave him a quick peck on the cheek before you could think about it and turned around.

“Could you help me put it on?” You asked him from over your shoulder as you gave him better access to the back of your neck.

“I… sure,” he grumbled, a smile playing again at his lips at your excitement.

You held the two ends of the necklace out to him and waited patiently as he came behind you.

Pero’s hands were warm on your skin as his fingertips brushed against yours for a moment before he went about doing the tiny clasp for you.

You shuddered lightly as his broad hands brushed over the curve of your neck that wasn’t strictly needed to be done to do up the necklace but you more than welcomed.

The moment he was done and his touch had disappeared you spun around to show the necklace off.

“How’s it look?” You grinned, still more than happy to playfully needle your gruff blacksmith.

He seemed lost for words looking at you, “I… you look great.”

You stepped in closer to him, finding his arms ready and more than willing to pull you back in close again, “Just so you’re aware you are a sweetheart, Mr. Grump.”

The smirk returned to his face, the dimple you knew was hiding there just starting to reveal itself. “Is that so?”

Both of you leaned in in tandem, noses brushing slightly as you replied before kissing him, “Indeed it is, but you’re my grump.”

~*~*~


End file.
